Optical router with optical control
US5539560A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 5, 1994 |
| Grant date | Jul 23, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 5, 2014 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04J14/08
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An optical multiplexer comprises a signal energy divider, such as a directional coupler, for dividing optical signal energy received by way of a multiplexer upstream port into a control portion and a utilization portion, and an optical switch having a first switch port connected to receive the utilization portion of the optical signal energy and having a plurality of additional switch ports connected to repsecive multiplexer downstream ports. A decoder extracts a control message from the control portion of the optical signal energy, and a controller is responsive to the control message for selectively setting the switch to interconnect the first switch port and a selected one of the additional switch ports. In this manner, at least part of the utilization portion of the optical signal energy received by the multiplexer by way of the multiplexer upstream port is emitted from the multiplexer by way of the multiplexer downstream port that is connected to the selected one of the additional switch ports.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.